Today, October 13, Princeton University professor Paul Krugman was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics. The American academic and New York Times columnist won the prize for his analysis of international trade and economic geography.

Krugman is equally well-known for his NYT columns in which he systematically analyzes the global financial crisis and for his critic of the Bush Administration. In today’s edition, Krugman praises British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for almost single-handedly saving the world’s financial system.

The Gordon Government "went straight to the heart of the problem — and moved to address it with stunning speed," Mr Krugman wrote today.

The committee which decided that the 2008 Nobel Prize for Economics should go to Mr Krugman especially praised the academic’s work for “having shown the effects of economies of scale on trade patterns and on the location of economic activity.”

Mr Krugman wrote about observed patterns of trade between countries. The academic also gave brilliant explanations on why the worldwide trade is dominated by a few countries that are quite alike and why some countries often import the same kinds of goods that they export.

It really was appropriate for the Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University to win the Noble Prize the same day during which the world governments struggled to come up with a rescue plan for the financial system. Just a few days ago, Friday, Mr Krugman wrote:

"The time to act is now. You may think that things can’t get any worse — but they can, and if nothing is done in the next few days, they will."

Mr Krugman received his BA from Yale University in 1974 and his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977. Before teaching in Princeton, the academic was professor at Yale, MIT and Stanford.